


Side B: Inferno

by ninemelodies



Series: nexus [2]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 07:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21352726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninemelodies/pseuds/ninemelodies
Summary: Lio stopped looking forward to the future the day he awoke as a Burnish. A story about the past and looking forward to the future.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: nexus [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538443
Comments: 1
Kudos: 58





	Side B: Inferno

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: while doing some research i learned that lio can mean to smooth or patch over in latin, while fotia mean fire. so in a sense lio fotia = fix with fire. so uri fotia = to destroy with fire. :)

Lio stopped looking forward to the future the day he awoke as a Burnish. His mom had the Burnish flare ups first. Lio’s father came home late one-night smelling like another woman’s perfume, and in a fit of rage, his mom melted half of his bike before she realized what was going on. His dad had looked on, wide-eyed in fright. 

When his mom managed to reign in the flames, she turned to talk to Lio’s dad, plead with him, probably, but he was already gone. Thinking back on it now, Lio supposes he was the reason Freeze Force showed up at their door the next morning. 

His mother had the car all packed and was putting shoes on Lio’s younger sister when there was a knock on the door. They all froze. A knock sounded again, more aggressive, and Lio’s mom flew into action. She handed off Uri to Lio. “Take your sister and hide in the garage! Keep quiet!” She shoved Lio into motion and then headed to the door.

Lio was just out of sight when he heard the door crash against the wall. His mother screamed and then stopped. 

“Find them.” Ordered a man’s voice. “We were told there are two children.” 

Heavy boots trekked down the hallway, slowly but surely coming closer to their hiding spot behind the car. The garage door creaked open. “We saw you come in here, little one.” Lio tightened his grip on his sister. “You can come out now, it’s safe.”

Safe? Lio was young, but he was not stupid. He had heard what the Freeze Force did to captured Burnish. They froze them solid, and then dragged them off to never be seen again. They did the same to his mother, he knew. Lio wasn’t Burnish, but he as the son of one, he didn’t know what they would do to him or his sister. 

“Found you.” A head reached down and grabbed Lio by the hair. The man lifted Lio up. It was the first time Lio would come face to face with the man he would grow to hate, who would destroy everything Lio had built and protected, again and again - Vulcan, captain of the Freeze Force. 

Tears gathered in Lio’s eyes as Vulcan shook him, and he almost dropped his sister. 

“Are you Burnish too?” Vulcan eyed him critically, before dropping him unceremoniously on the floor. “I guess not,” he said, tone of voice one of someone who already knew the answer. “Get up kid, you’re coming with us.” When Lio didn’t move, Vulcan hauled him up by his arm and out the door. 

Lio had given up fighting at this point. He was going to be taken, his mom had already been taken, but at least he still had his sister. And judging by the whole block of ice in their front yard, Lio’s mother was at least for now, still alive.

Or she was, until one of Vulcan’s men backed over the ice block and it shattered. Lio felt the rage like bile in the back of his throat. 

Building, building, burning, b u r n i n g. 

Then Vulcan’s men laughed about the ice blocks melting into blood. 

Something was speaking to him, whispering in his head. More, more. Hotter, hotter. Lio’s vision was doing something funny. The world was hazy, waving around like the air above a hot road. Then someone tried to take Uri from him and Lio’s world went black.

B U R N. T H E M. 

When Lio’s vision came back someone was screaming. The man who had tried to take Uri was on the ground in front of him, screaming and holding the charred remains of his hands as close to his chest as possible. The grass around him was burning, creeping ever closer to the rest of the Freeze Force, but everyone was frozen, staring at something in Lio’s arms. 

Lio looked down. The flames went out as soon as they had started. 

He had forgotten about Uri. 

***

Lio had spent every day since trying to forget what he had done. He ran from it like he ran from the Freeze Force and everyone who would betray him. There wasn’t really a way he could atone for what he had done, but he was going to try. He fought tooth and nail to protect the people following him, to make sure they could live the life his mother and sister never got. More than that, he vowed to never kill again.

And he held true to that until Kray Foresight began experimenting on his people. He had to get close, to get his people out and put an end to the violence. It’s why he was on the roof of the pharmaceutical building 15 years after becoming Burnish, staring down at the loud, brash firefighter known as Galo Thymos. 

Even after being captured (on purpose), Lio couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had seen the way that Galo stood up to Vulcan. Galo wore his heart on his sleeve, and Lio could tell that it was kinder that anyone on the Freeze Force and warmer than any Burnish. 

It’s why he’s a little less than surprised when Galo actually listens to him in the cave. It’s why when Galo launches himself at Lio’s giant Burnish flare, he doesn’t get burned. Lio hadn’t noticed it at the time, but after, once he had cooled down and the world wasn’t in imminent danger, Lio realized Galo didn’t get burned because Lio didn’t want to hurt him. 

No, Lio couldn’t hurt him. 

And there was the difference wasn’t it? Physically or mentally, Lio would do anything for Galo. He would do anything with Galo. Lio’s not sure when he stopped running from his ghosts and began looking forward to the future, but he was ready. He just...had to do something first.

“Galo?” 

The man in question paused his movie, head tilting backwards over the couch to fix Lio with a questioning gaze. 

“Do you...want to go on a walk with me?” Lio was nervous. Beyond nervous, but if he wanted to truly let go of his past, this had to be done. 

30 minutes later found them at a graveyard on the northern edge of Promepolis. It was quiet here, the noise of the city left behind with the lights that glowed in the distance like stars. Galo had kept up an easy chatter the whole trip out, but now he fell silent. 

Lio pushed the gate open, flinching when the squeaking of the hinges shattered the peace. “Come on,” he said, heading in. 

Her grave wasn’t much. After all, there wasn’t actually a body to bury. Just a pile of ash trampled and scattered by the Freeze Force in their haste to contain Lio. But it was something. It had her name and some flowers, and now, one of the only things Lio had left of Uri. 

After he had escaped from the Freeze Force he had snuck back into the house and taken Uri’s favorite toy, a raggedy stuffed blue bear, from where it had fallen in the panic. Throughout everything, he had kept it safe. But now, it was time to return it and move on. 

He crouched down and settled the toy, so it was leaning against Uri’s headstone. “This is my sister. She was 3 when she died.” Lio took a deep breath, fingers trailing over the marking that spelled out her name. “I was 6 when I killed her.” 

Galo crouched down next to him, a solid warmth against Lio’s left side. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Of course, he didn’t. “I... the night before, my mom had her first Burnish spasm. She melted half of my dad’s bike because she was so mad. By the time she realized what she had done, my dad had left.

“I guess he called Freeze Force on us because they showed up the next morning. They froze my mom before shattering her into pieces, and when they tried to take my sister from me too….” Lio trailed off. The gravestone in front of him was blurring. He sniffled, bringing a hand up to wipe his face off. 

The arm around his shoulder knocked him off balance and he found himself falling into Galo’s chest. When Galo spoke, his voice was a soft rumble against Lio’s cheek. “You can’t blame yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.” He ruffled Lio’s hair. “I think she would be proud of how far you’ve come! You saved the world!” 

Lio smiles softly. “Yeah, I guess we did.” 

They didn’t move for a while, content to just be with each other in the cooling night air. And Lio - Lio who hadn’t felt the same since he lost his sister and then his Promare - finally feels like he’s home.

**Author's Note:**

> as always you can catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/GODF0RSAKEN)/[tumblr](https://ninemelodies.tumblr.com/)


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